Figure 3.3 The amorphous structure of glassy silica (SiO2) in two-dimensions. Note that a fourth oxygen atom is bonded to each silicon atom, either behind the plane of the screen or in front of it; these atoms are omitted for clarity

For example, in the unit cell of alpha-quartz, the central tetrahedron shares all 4 of its corner O atoms, the 2 face-centered tetrahedra share 2 of their corner O atoms, and the 4 edge-centered tetrahedra share just one of their O atoms with other SiO4 terahedra. This leaves a net average of 12 out of 24 total vertices for that portion of the 7 SiO4 tetrahedra which are considered to be a part of the unit cell for silica (see 3-D Unit Cell). SiO2 has a number of distinct crystalline forms (polymorphs) in addition to amorphous forms. With the exception of stishovite and fibrous silica, all of the crystalline forms involve tetrahedral SiO4 units linked together by shared vertices in different arrangements. Silicon-oxygen bond lengths vary between the different crystal forms, for example in α-quartz the bond length is 161 pm, whereas in α-tridymite it is in the range 154-171 pm. The Si-O-Si angle also varies between low values of 140° in α-tridymite, up to 180° in β-tridymite. In α-quartz the Si-O-Si angle is 144° [118].

The amorphous structure of glassy silica (SiO2) in two-dimensions.[...] Note that a fourth oxygen atom is bonded to each silicon atom, either behind the plane of the screen or in front of it; these atoms are omitted for clarity.

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For example, in the unit cell of α-quartz, the central tetrahedron shares all 4 of its corner O atoms, the 2 face-centered tetrahedra share 2 of their corner O atoms, and the 4 edge-centered terahedra share just one of their O atoms with other SiO4 tetrahedra. This leaves a net average of 12 out of 24 total vertices for that portion of the 7 SiO4 tetrahedra which are considered to be a part of the unit cell for silica (see 3-D Unit Cell).

SiO2 has a number of distinct crystalline forms (polymorphs) in addition to amorphous forms. With the exception of stishovite and fibrous silica, all of the crystalline forms involve tetrahedral SiO4 units linked together by shared vertices in different arrangements. Silicon-oxygen bond lengths vary between the different crystal forms, for example in α-quartz the bond length is 161 pm, whereas in α-tridymite it is in the range 154-171 pm. The Si-O-Si angle also varies between a low value of 140° in α-tridymite, up to 180° in β-tridymite. In α-quartz the Si-O-Si angle is 144°.[5]